Michael Cohen Says Donald Trump Knew Hush Money Payments To Porn Star & Playboy Model Were Illegal

Former Trump lawyer fixer Michael Cohen claims that President Donald Trump ordered him to arrange hush money payments during his 2016 presidential bid, and says that the president was fully aware that the payments were illegal.

During an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos just days after he was handed down a three year sentence for lying to Congress and tax fraud, Cohen told the reporter that Trump instructed him to make the payments to the two women because “very concerned with how this would affect the election.”

The president initially claimed that he had no knowledge of the payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. He later changed his tune, saying that the hush money given to the pair was not related to his campaign, and therefore was not illegal.

“I don’t think there’s anybody that believes that,” Cohen told Stephanopoulos in the interview aired Friday. “Nothing at the Trump Organization was ever done unless it was run through Mr. Trump.”

He went on to say that “of course” President Trump knew that the payments were wrong, and implied that the president acted willfully and knowingly.

For his own part, Cohen, who flipped on the president earlier this year, claimed that “blind loyalty” influenced his actions during his time working for Trump.

“I knew that what I was doing was wrong,” Cohen said, referencing the thousands of dollars he arranged to be sent to the two women.

But even so, those days of blindly following the president’s lead seem to be over for the lawyer, as he told ABC News that he refuses to be Trump’s scapegoat.

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“I have my freedom and I will not be the villain as I told you once before, I will not be the villain of his story,” he told Stephanopoulos.